In a public statement following the shattering events of 9/11, President George W. Bush took
stock of the life-altering event by contending that “America was targeted for attack because we're
the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world.” Since then, American leaders
have engaged in a prolonged discussion of how American values contrast with those of the
terrorists. Indeed, by calling the United States “the brightest beacon,” Bush hearkened back to a
centuries-old idea that America has a unique role to play in the world. Such a national
conversation only further provokes the vital question of American identity: Who are we as
Americans? Has the U.S. had a unique national identity, and— if so— has that identity remained
the same or altered over the years? Is there a fundamental generational and philosophical shift
underway after the September 11 attacks, and how might it take shape? We will address these
issues as we look at America’s past this semester, and examine critically whether American
identity is undergoing a vital turning point as we approach the 21st century.

Course Requirements:

Readings: Regularly assigned readings from your course reader (Speaking of America:
Readings in U.S. History, vol. II) and textbook (The American Journey) are listed below in the
course schedule. There will also be a supplemental book (The Things They Carried) discussed in
class. You should follow that schedule, and be sure to arrive in class on those dates having
covered those readings carefully. The readings may be discussed in class, and students will be
graded on their mastery of these materials in two important ways. We may discuss many (if not
all) of those materials in class, and that will be a substantial basis of determining your class
participation grade for the course (discussed further below). All readings (including the
supplemental book) will also be subject to the possibility of an unannounced “pop” quiz on the
day in which they are discussed in class. These quizzes, added together at the semester’s end,
will total 10% of your final grade. Attendance for the extended discussion date (Friday, March
28) on the supplemental book is mandatory.

Internet Readings: When “Internet Readings” is listed in the course schedule, you should go
to my web page, click on “History Web Links,” and then follow the directions listed in the
Course Schedule (i.e., look for the page listed in the Course Schedule, click on it, then find the
subsection listed in the Course Schedule, locate the reading listed and click on that reading).

Exams: There will be three written exams in the class. The first two midterm exams will be
held in class approximately one-third (Friday, 2/7) and two-thirds (Friday, 3/14), respectively, of
the way through the semester. The third will be the cumulative final exam. Any makeups for
those exams will require valid medical documentation or my approval prior to the date of the
exam (please note: the burden of acquiring that approval falls on the student seeking it. That is,
the student simply leaving a message without having an actual conversation with me will not
suffice). All makeups should be taken within one week of the original scheduled exam, or that
exam grade will become a 0.

Student Scholarly Integrity: Any student cheating on exams or quizzes, plagiarizing on
papers, or copying other students’ work on assigned papers will be subject to failure in the entire
course.

Class Participation:This will be a important part of our class time together, and discussions
will occur frequently throughout the semester. As such, that and your attendance combined
(attendance policy is discussed below) will comprise 15% of your course grade. While I expect
some students to be better suited than others to class participation (i.e., more vocal and assertive
in public speaking), all students are expected to participate to some extent during the course, or
suffer in this portion of their grade.

Students with Disability: Any student who feels she/he may need an accommodation based
on the impact of a documented disability should contact the Academic Success Center to discuss
specific needs. Please contact Dr. Patsy Ging, Director of Learning Support Service for Students
with Disabilities at x5237, or via email at pging@twcnet.edu. It is the students’ responsibility to
make initial contact with one of the coordinators in the Academic Success Center. Coordinators:
Dr. Patsy Ging/pging@twcnet.edu, Dr. Patti pjones/pjones@twcnet.edu, or Mr. John Gaston at
jgaston@twcnet.edu

Attendance: I will take roll daily. Students are encouraged to attend every class, since your
presence is the most reliable path to success. Should you do so, points will be awarded to your
final course average in the following way: a student who is present for all classes or misses only
one class will be awarded two bonus points to her/his final course averages. A student missing
two classes will be awarded one bonus point, and a student missing three or more classes will
receive no bonus points. Please be aware, however, of the ways that your presence in class will
be tracked. Absences may only be excused with written documentation or my approval prior to
that absence. Roll will be taken at the beginning of class. It is the responsibility of any late
students to inform me of your presence in class immediately after class is completed. After that
time has passed, you will remain marked as “absent.” (Furthermore, while I will make an effort
to repeat any announcements of upcoming assignments or exams, it remains the responsibility of
anyone who misses class for catching up on any missed material— including the announcement
of any dates– or date changes– in upcoming assignments.) Additionally, please note: Being
present means just that– being present to what is going on in this class. Students asleep, doing
work for another class, text messaging, or doing anything else other than what pertains to this
class means being absent (and will count as such in my record), and will not be tolerated. Cell
phones should be put carefully away during classtime. Since missing class also reduces
opportunities to participate, absences may also gradually damage your grade in that area as well.

Mandatory Attendance Date: Attendance is mandatory on Friday, 3/28 to discuss the
supplemental book, The Things They Carried.

Student Athletes: College required athletic events for student athletes will, of course, be
excused absences. However, because the purpose of rewarding limited absences is to prevent the
student from falling behind and suffering academically, student athletes who miss class due to
athletic events will be limited in their allowed unexcused absences. Should you miss two (or
more) classes due to athletics, then you may not take an unexcused absence in addition to that
and still receive the two bonus points to your course average. (Should you miss only one class
due to athletics, you would still be allowed an additional unexcused absence to receive one bonus
point to your course average). Student athletes should also be especially mindful of the burden
escalating athletic absences will create for their academic performance (and, should thus be
vigilant to keep track of assignments, be sure to quickly get good notes from a classmate, etc.).
Please note that it is the responsibility of the student athlete to keep the instructor aware of
athletic absences– not the other way around. Thus, student athletes should notify me that an
absence was due to an athletic event on the next class meeting, so I may properly note it. If the
student athlete fails to do so, the absence will remain recorded as simply an unexcused absence.
Student athletes should also be sure to supply an official athletic schedule from their coaches
during the first week of class. Should an athletic event ever conflict with a mandatory discussion
or exam date, you should come see me at least a week in advance to make alternate
arrangements.

Course Grade Distribution:Course Grade Scale:

Midterm Exam #1: 20%A: 92-100/ A- : 90-91

Midterm Exam #2: 25%B+: 88-89/ B: 82-87/ B- : 80-81

Final Exam: 30%C+: 78-79/ C: 72-77/ C-: 70-71

Class Participation: 15%D+: 68-69/ D: 62-67/ D-: 60-61

Pop Quizzes: 10%F: 0-59

Course Schedule

NOTE: All dates are subject to change as course needs dictate, and will be announced in class by
instructor. The following dates are given to highlight reading and other class assignments.
However, classes will always meet regularly with or without an assignment scheduled.

Important Note: Should inclement weather or other problems force the cancellation of class,
you should presume that whatever was to occur on that cancelled date will be held on the next
available class meeting.

Course Introduction (1/8–1/10)

► Course Requirements

► American Identity Discussion: Friday, January 10

Discussion Assignment:

(For Friday, 1/10)

Discussion topic: Your view of the nature of American identity. To what extent has
America had (and continues to have) a unique identity? What would you define as its
characteristics? Are there unique traits which characterize a citizen of the United States? What,
historically, are the values that Americans hold dear? (Identify three to four that you feel are the
most central characteristics of American character.) What do they espouse? Are these values
lived out or is there a discrepancy between rhetoric and practice? (If you perceive a discrepancy,
how great is the discrepancy.)

Coming to Class: You will be expected to come to class with at least three well-thought-out ideas jotted down on a piece of paper (you needn’t turn that sheet in to me). You
should be prepared to be called on and defend those ideas with supporting detail/examples in
class discussion.

The New America: Reshaping the economy and society to a
“Modern” World(1/13–1/24)

► Industrialization and its Commitments: corporate capitalism, “Captains of Industry,” Social
Darwinism, labor unions and labor unrest, urban life

► From the Old West to the New West: commercializing the West, dealing with Native
Americans

III. COURSE DESCRIPTION: A broad survey of the United States from Reconstruction to
the present, including aspects of American political, economic, social and cultural development.
Familiarity with and understanding of the major and conflicting interpretations of American
history is also expected. (H 204, Fall; H 205, Spring.)

IV. COURSE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES History 205 is designed to provide students with
a broad knowledge of American history from Reconstruction through the present. The course
will familiarize students with significant historical themes and trends as well as important
personalities, events and philosophies. A constant effort is made to show how important past
decisions continue to affect the lives of all Americans today. The ethnic and cultural background
of America will also be explored. Students will be expected to analyze and conceptualize ideas
and information and learn to communicate their views both verbally and in written form. In the
process of studying American history, the relativity of ideas once held by Americans to be
absolute—ideas about race, agrarian superiority, and the inferiority of Native Americans—will
illustrate the danger of knowing only one’s own time, place, and immediate social and cultural
environment. The basic skill to be derived from this course is the ability to judge critically but
fairly and with some compassion part of our common past, and to determine how, and to what
extent, ideas of American exceptionalism are valid.

V. COURSE RELATIONSHIP TO MAJOR PROGRAM AND DEPARTMENT OR
INSTITUTIONAL PURPOSE:

History 205 is one of the options in the All College Requirements to fulfill the six hours required
in survey history. It is also required for the major in history for both the B.S. and B.A. It
definitely fulfills goals of the Department of History to enable each student to develop an
understanding of the past through historical perspective, and through that perspective, a better
understanding of his own time and place; to enable each student to express himself clearly and
concisely in writing, to sustain a logical and persuasive argument, to examine the facts on both
sides of any particular issue, and to present conclusions effectively; and to awaken in students a
deeper sense of the moral and ethnical questions surrounding choices they must make throughout
their lives.

VI. COURSE RELATIONSHIP TO CONTENT AREA KNOWLEDGE SKILLS FROM
THE EDUCATION MATRICES:

Social Studies Education Matrix:

A. General Social Studies. The teacher of Social Studies will demonstrate the following
knowledge and skills: an understanding of the influence of geographic characteristics, including
climate, physical features and natural resources on the world’s major societies and cultures; the
ability to demonstrate the interrelationships between the social studies and humanities; and the
ability to integrate into the curriculum skills related to the use of maps, graphs, and charts.

B. History. The teacher of history will demonstrate the knowledge and skills in general social
studies and will demonstrate the following knowledge and skills also: an understanding of the
concept of change over time with the ability to relate past to present; an understanding of the
major events and movements in history (American, Western and non—Western ), the turning
points of historical development, and their relationship to the present; an understanding of the
techniques of historical interpretation that includes cause and effect, major trends, and
quantitative and non—quantitative analysis; and knowledge of non—Western and third world
countries that includes the ability to study and evaluate events from a global perspective.

General Education Matrix:

A. Knowledge and skills pertaining to all areas: A conscientious student should emerge from
this course with an awareness of information sources, and the ability to integrate knowledge
acquired from a wide variety of sources, an ability to use basic problem—solving skills such as
identifying, defining, postulating and evaluating, planning and acting, and assessing results; an
ability to analyze and synthesize ideas, information and data; an awareness and understanding of
cultural and individual diversity and of humankind’s shared environment, heritage, and
responsibility as well as an awareness of the interdependence among fields of study; an ability to
understand and respect other points of view, both personal and cultural; and an understanding of
one'’ own and others’ ethics and values.

B. Communication: A conscientious student should also acquire the ability to send and receive
written and oral messages in standard English; to communicate verbally and non—verbally; to
identify his/her intended audience and to communicate efffectively within it when speaking and
writing; and to be come aware of diverse communication styles, abilities, and cultural
differences.

C. Humanities and the Arts: A conscientious student should become aware of various means
of creative expression, both within a given culture and across cultures and languages; should
understand how human ideas, values, and ethics can be examined and illuminated figuratively;
should become aware of the past and current relationships between creative expression and the
societies from which they grow; should be able to open himself/herself to creative expressions, to
understand their basic premises, and to understand how creators and critics make informed
qualitative judgements about them; and should be able to formulate such judgements
himself/herself.

D. Social Science and Culture: A conscientious student should understand how social
scientists create, describe, disseminate, and refine new knowledge within their disciplines; be
able to apply social science methods in appropriate situations; should have an informed historical
perspective, including an understanding of how his/her own society developed as well as an
awareness of how other societies developed.

VIII. TOPICS OR UNITS OF INSTRUCTION:Industrialization and its Commitments
(corporate capitalism, “Captains of Industry,” Social Darwinism, labor unions and labor unrest,
urban life); From the Old West to the New West (commercializing the West, dealing with Native
Americans); Expanding the Frontier at Home and Abroad (Frederick Jackson Turner, William
Cody, and the Impact of the Frontier on the American Psyche); Progressive Movement; World
War I; The Jazz Age; Taylorism, Fordism, Consumer Culture and the American worker; The
Great Depression; Family & social decay in the Depression; Roosevelt and the New Deal; World
War II; Postwar Economic Boom; Cold War Abroad and Domestically; Korean War;
“Consensus” America and its dissenters (the Beat Generation, men’s and women’s concerns);
The Second Reconstruction: Civil Rights in the 1960s; the Kennedy Administration; Lyndon
Johnson and the Great Society; Movements for Social Change (Students, Hippies, Women, Anti-war, Black Power); The Vietnam War; Nixon administration; The Watergate Crisis; the 1970s, a
Turn Inward; America in the late 1970s, a “Crisis of Confidence”; 1980 Election; Reagan
Revolution; A New Gilded Age; 9/11 and a New Millennium.

IX. ADDITIONAL READING

At the end of each of the chapters in The American Journey: A History of the United States is an
excellent bibliography containing titles of books related to the chapter for students who wish to
explore further.

X. METHODS OF INSTRUCTION AND LEARNING: This course is based on lecture and
reading assignments in the text. I hope, however, that this information can stimulate discussion
which I believe to be a valuable aspect of any history course. I realize that class participation can
be intimidating, but students should be active learners even while taking lecture notes. In
addition, I frequently use various programs, which greatly add to the dimension of historical
learning. While I do not demand a strict code of conduct in class, I expect students to recognize
the rights of others and show their fellow students the courtesy they expect for themselves.